Witch

It's time for cheerleader tryouts, and Buffy can't resist! However, when the girls start getting knocked out of the competition by spontaneous combustion, sudden blindness, and other freak accidents, Buffy and the gang begin to suspect that someone may be behind these not so normal occurrences. Could someone be using dark magicks in order to make the squad?

Xander: (to Willow) I gotta be a man and ask her out. Y'know, I gotta stop giving her ID bracelets, subtle innuendos, taking Polaroids outside of her bedroom window late at night. That last part is a joke to relieve the tension because here she comes.

Xander: (about Buffy) Was she wearing it? The bracelet, she was wearing it, right? Pretty much like we're going out.Willow: Except without the hugging or kissing or her knowing about it.

Buffy: (singing) Macho, macho, man! I want to be a macho man. Macho... (stops singing as she walks into the kitchen) Oh, hey, juice! Mm... Quality juice. Not from
concentrate!
Joyce: You're in a good mood.
Buffy: I am! I'm on the squad, which is great, 'cause I feel like cheering and leading others to cheer. Ooo, hey, juice!
Joyce: Listen, honey, about yesterday, I really...
Buffy: That is totally yester. Besides, it's not like you were wrong, y'know. I did get kicked outta school. I'm just wacky that way!
Joyce: Still, I just want you to know that, despite the problems you've had, I really...
Buffy: Mom, you just don't get it. And, believe me, you don't want it. Y'know, there are just some things about being a Vampire Slayer that the older generation...
Joyce: A what?
Buffy: It's a... long story.
Joyce: Buffy, are you feeling well?
Buffy: What? Oh, I'm fine, y'know? What, like, I can't be in a good mood? Is it, like, a new house rule? Fine, y'know? It's just fine, fine, fine, 'cause... (sings) I'm a macho, macho man! I want to be a macho man!

Notes (8)

An unfilmed scene from the original script has Giles suggesting an alternative way of testing whether Amy is a witch: "Yes, the ducking stool! We throw her in the pond. If she floats, she's a witch; if she drowns, she's innocent... some of my texts are a bit outdated."

Jim Doughan (Mr. Pole) played a small part in the movie My Stepmother Is an Alien in which Alyson Hannigan portrayed Jessie Mills, the main character's daughter.

Prints of this episode that aired in the UK incorrectly credit the band who perform the theme song as "Nerfherder" rather than the correct Nerf Herder.

Featured Music:Twilight Zone by 2 Unlimited - During cheerleader tryouts.Count The Time by The Children* - At the end of the episode, while Buffy and her mother are talking.Macho Man by The Village People (sung by Sarah Michelle Gellar) - Buffy sings in the kitchen.

*note: "The Children" later reformed as "Humbucker" and later "God's Children". "The Children" is the name that the band used when recording this track, so it is the name used here.

When Cordelia sees one of the girls trying out for the cheerleading squad, she makes the comment "Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?". Charisma Carpenter was a cheerleader for the football team San Diego Chargers.

Trivia (7)

Goof: When Cordelia gets out of the car she shuts the door, but in the next shot the door of the car is open just before it is hit by the truck.

In this episode we learn that Giles drives a gray Citroen.

Giles claims that his attempt to negate the witch's magick is his "first casting." This is later proved to be either a continuity error or a lie on Giles' part.

Nitpick: Amy tells Buffy that her mom makes her practice 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening, but later on in the episode, Buffy says that she just doesn't have time to practice 3 hours a day. 3+3 does not equal 3.

Nitpick: It seems odd that the truck driver didn't even try to stop when blind Cordelia was wandering into the road. He had plenty of time and space to swerve out of the way.

Allusions (12)

Xander: This is the Invisible Man syndrome. A blessing in Cordelia's case. A curse in Buffy's.
The Invisible Man is a novel by H. G. Wells featuring a main character who becomes invisible due to a scientific experiment. Several films have been made based on the novel, as well as more than one television series.

Xander: She's like the Human Torch.
The Human Torch is a superhero from Marvel Comics. The original was an android who fought against Hitler in World War II, the second (and more commonly known) is a member of the superhero team the Fantastic Four.

Cordelia: These grapes are sour.
From the Aesop's fable where the fox, unable to reach the grapes, determines that they are probably sour anyway. The idea being that when something is unobtainable we declare it to be undesirable. Of course the real Amy probably never was much interested in becoming a cheerleader.

Buffy: She's our Sabrina!
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch first appeared in Archie comics in the 1960's. A TV series about the character began in 1996 starring Melissa Joan Hart and was soon followed by an animated series. The reference to Sabrina may also have been an inside joke, since Robin Riker (Amy's mother, Catherine) had previously made a guest appearance on the TV show.

Joyce: Great parenting form. A little shaky on the dismount.
Joyce speaks of her parenting skills in the language of gymnastics. The dismount from an apparatus is usually an especially tricky move.